Please help

Not sure what your looking for or whether you require employment.  That said the three islands are very different.  St. John is the most picturesque but also the most expensive with a tiny population, so very likely finding a place within your budget will be challenging.  St. Thomas is cruise ship country, so lots of day tourists, to me there always seems to be a lot of traffic but the island offers much of what St. John is missing at a more affordable cost, things like a real grocery store, hospital, a Home Depot and car dealerships.  It also offers good proximity to St. John and the BVI’s, if that’s important.  St. Croix is more remote, the largest of the three islands, seems less touristy and less crowded.  It has roughly the same infrastructure as St. Thomas but you’d probably find that rents are cheaper.

A word of caution, that you’ll hear frequently on this blog, living in the USVI isn’t for everyone.  An extended pre-move visit is strongly recommended and should easily answer all your questions.  It’s not the main land and you will need to adjust to the island, not the other way around.  This simply means know what your jumping into before you jump, and have a backup plan.

FWIW, you will find transporting large dogs to the Territory will be expensive as I’m not sure any of the airlines serving the USVI will accommodate them.  Another reason to be sure moving to the Territory is right for your group.

My wife and I live seasonally on St. Croix, about half the year.  I could easily live there year round as I love most everything about the island, we’re retired, but my wife doesn’t like the heat and humidity of the summer and the idea of facing a hurricane of any magnitude is too frightening for her.

Good luck in your search.

To add to what jaldeborgh posted:

Before making any commitment you and others in your group should do some basic research on each island and "no, that doesn't mean just asking strangers on a forum.  Try doing some internet searches using such topics as "Living on NAME OF ISLAND" or "Full time living in the Caribbean" - you'll find dozens of links with useful information.   Also, use the links at the top of this page and read everything there, you'll get a good feel for what island life is really like.  There's so much good info there that it will take you weeks to read and digest everything.  When researching various topics you'll find information that might be a few years old, don't worry because other that there price of items almost everything you find will still be relevant.  Regarding prices you find on older posts, you can easily adjust them upwards to account for inflation. In the Caribbean, prices almost always go up and really ever go down 

If you have to work while living on the island you choose do similar internet searches such as "Working on "NAME OF ISLAND", "YOUR SKILL SET opportunities on NAME OF ISLAND".  This will give you some idea whether or not your skill set is in demand and what type of salaries you can expect.  Keep in mind the following 2 things:

1) It's almost impossible to find employment on any of the islands as most employers will hire only people who actually live on the island.  They learned long ago that the vast majority of people who say they intend to relocate to the Caribbean never actually make the move.

2) The Catch-22 of living & working in the Caribbean is housing costs and living expenses tend to be higher and wages that what you are used to seeing where you now live.

As far as housing is concerned, again the internet is your friend.  Doo some searches for "Long term home rentals on NAME OF ISLAND" and "Residential Rental Agents on NAME OF ISLAND" - you''l find plenty of links where you can determine what type of housing is available on a specific island that is in your price range.

Do take the advice of making an extended Pre-Move Visit BEFORE you actually make the move.  Don't come as a tourist but rather stay in short term rental unit and live like a local.  Do normal everyday chores like house cleaning, yard work, grocery shopping, paying utility bills, etc., etc. - after all you'll be doing all those things and more once you make the move.

Read through many of the posts on this forum.  Use the search feature to bing up topics/questions you want to find out more about.  By the way, there's lots of threads on this forum about transporting large dogs to the island - as the previous poster mentions it does present a bit of a challenge and can be costly - many people send their dogs on private charter flights.

Good luck in your search.